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Had 4 quotes done, had two back, waiting for the other two
Plumber comes out this morning, tear out old boiler, replace with new boiler, piping, building work and new shower. near as dammit, 3 grand
British Gas come out (mother in law urged me to as she thinks sun shines out of proverbial).........5 grand
Quoted to do less work than plumber.....really, WTF?
British Gas have always been horrendously expensive. Normally have a 'free gas for a year' offer, or some such, to draw you in. Essentially make their money on old biddies not wanting to trust an unknown name.
Their quote for my central heating was 3x that of the quote I went with, for the same work
Yep, that is a cheap quote from BG, mine was near 3 times what I paid for the same work and kit from a 'normal' plumber.
I'd much rather give the work to someone who might appreciate the cash a bit more, and I told the in-laws i'd rather cut off a nut than go with the gas board, but really, they must be banking on people being properly stupid
God, how times have changed. In mine and the misses last house about 5 years ago we paid £2300 for someone to take the old boiler out and put a new combi boiler in, 7 rads with thermostat valves and all new piping through the house. And the house was on 4 floors as-well.
My quote from BG is positively cheap then. Over £5k for replacement boiler (not combi) & 11 rads with stats... They won't be getting my dosh.
Why is every one so shocked by how expensive boilers are? They are much more complex than they used to be and so is the installation, get over it. 😉
A good boiler will cost £1100 trade and take around two days to fit if its a different type. so anything over £1700 inc pipe is taking the wee wee.
Totally concur with BG comments, however, businesses will always charge labour at a higher rate when installing expensive products like boilers, fitted kitchens etc: Someone spends 5 grand on a kitchen so whether it's 500 quid to fit it or 1000 doesn't make a vast difference overall, and it makes up for all the times when you've earned less on a smaller job than you ought to have.
Plus, if you supply a couple of kitchens in a year at cost price, charge normal hourly rates, your Turnover/Profit ratio goes up S**t creek: HMCR will automatically investigate any changes of more than a couple of a percent. If you find yourself up infront of these guys, the onus is on YOU to prove you havn't pocketed the difference in cash!
Seriously, I was caught out like that 20 years ago, couldn't dispove the allegation and was fined £1000.